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THE 

E  V  A  N  E  S  G  E  N  T 
I  CITY 

GEORCF  ^TFRT  INC 
With  'Hxnc  Illustrations  after  Photographs 

FRANCIS  BRUGUIERE 

And 


3  AN 


altar:  palace  of  fine  arts 


THE 
EVANESCENT 
CITY 

by 

GEORGE  STERLING 

With  7s[ine  Illustrations  after  Photographs 

by 

FRANCIS  BRUGUIERE 

And 

A  Cover  in  Color  after  the  Painting  by 
Will  Sparks 


SAN  FRANCISCO 
A.  M.  ROBERTSON 
1915 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
A.  M.  Robertson 


Printed  by  Taylor  6?  Taylor,  San  Francisco 


Kiote: 

This  poem,  commemorative  of  the  Panama' 
Pacific  International  Exposition,  with  its  accom' 
panying  illustrations  after  photographs  by  Francis 
Bruguiere,  first  appeared  in  Sunset  Magazine,  to 
whose  Editors  the  Publisher  is  indebted  for  per' 
mission  to  reprint  it  in  the  present  form.  The 
illustration  on  the  cover,  after  the  painting  by 
Will  Sparks,  has  not  been  published  heretofore. 


THE  EVATiESCEJiT  CITY 


THE   EVANESCENT  CITY 


<5 


REAT  on  the  west,  ere  darkness  crush  her  domes, 

Wincred  the  city  of  the  sunset  lies. 
Below  her  courts  the  mournful  ocean  foams; 
Above,  no  foam  of  cloud  is  in  the  skies. 


ARCH  OF 
THE  EAST 


[   3  1 


THE   EVANESCENT  CITY 


Awhile  I  stand,  a  dreamer  by  the  deep, 

And  watch  the  winds  of  evening  sap  her  walls, 

Till  ashen  armies  to  the  ramparts  sweep 

And  seas  of  shadow  storm  the  gleaming  halls. 


[  4  ] 


PALACE  OF 
HORTICULTURE 


THE   EVANESCENT  CITY 

So  dies  that  far  magnificence  of  light, 

A  conquered  splendor  on  a  crumbling  pyre, 

'Mid  fall  of  crimson  temples  from  their  height 
And  ruined  altars  yielding  up  their  fire. 


[  6  ] 


WATER  SPIRIT 
BY 

LEO  LENTELLI 


THE   EVANESCENT  CITY 

So  fades  that  city,  one  with  all  that  finds 

The  nameless  road  that  Beauty  takes  at  last- 
One  with  her  dust  upon  the  twilight  winds 
And  all  her  music  mingling  with  the  Past. 


[   8  ] 


COLONNADE : 
COURT  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 


THE  EVANESCENT  CITY 

"Farewell!"  I  whisper  low — then  thrill  to  see, 
Unseen  till  now,  eternal  and  afar, 

Soul  of  dead  day  and  pledge  of  peace  to  be, 
The  tranquil  silver  of  the  evening  star. .  . . 


[  10  ] 


doorway: 
palace  of  machinery 


THE   EVANESCENT  CITY 


And  even  thus  our  city  of  a  year 

Must  pass  lil^e  those  the  shafted  sunsets  build, 
Fleeting  as  all  fair  things  and,  fleeting,  dear— 

A  rainbow  fallen  and  an  anthem  stilled. 


[    12  ] 


doorway: 
palace  of  varied  industries 


THE   EVANESCENT  CITY 

A  rainbow  fallen— but  within  the  soul 

Its  deep  indubitable  iris  burns; 
An  anthem  stilled — yet  for  its  ghostly  goal 
The  incommunicable  music  yearns. 


[  14  ] 


COLUMNS  AND  LAGOON: 
PALACE  OF  FINE  ARTS 


THE   EVANESCENT  CITY 


Only  for  Beauty  s  passing  shall  we  trace 

The  heavenly  pathway  that  her  feet  have  trod; 

Only  at  her  departure  see\  her  face — 

We  that  shall  find  it  not  this  side  of  God. 


[  16  ] 


COLUMNS  AND  ROTUNDA: 
PALACE  OF  FINE  ARTS 


THE  END 


